Weft-replenishing mechanism for looms.



. J. WHITTAKER, R. BRADSHAW & J. BRIGGS.

WEFT REPLENlSHlNG-MECHANISM FOR LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB-19I I9l2.

Patented Aug. 10, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET lfiw H v aw J. WHITTAKER, R. BRADSHAW & .l. BRIGGS.

WEFT REPLENISHING MECHANISM FOR LOOMS. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 19, 1912.

1,149,550. Patented Aug. 10,1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

i? 17 i a E I? 5 i: 75 w J' 6 ii iu C? 1w: :i f 4 E 55 a I d5 l I 6% i: 66 6/ F I 6'2 6/ 6/" waxes pairs was ATENT JOHN WHITTAKER, RICHARD BRADSHAW, AND'J BRIGGS, OF RISHTON, NEAR BLACKBURN, ENGLAND.

Specification of Letters Patent.

WEFT-REPLENISHING IVEEUHANISM FOR LOOMS.

Patented Aug. 10, 1915.

Application filed February 19, 1912. sria m. 678,688.

To all 20. mm it may comer-n:

Be it known that we, JOHN WVHITTAKER, RICHARD BaADsHAw, and JOSEPH Bmecs, subjects of the King of the United King. dom of Great Britain and Ireland, and residing at lVellington-lvfill, Rishton, nearv Blackburn, in the county of Lancaster, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in lVeft-Replenishing Mechanism for Looms, of which the following is a specification. 1

Our invention relates to weft-replenishing mechanism for looms and has for its object an improved magazine for holding the cop spindles,-in which the cop spindles are fed downward by gravity into the posi tion from which they are transferred into the shuttles. I

In the accompanying drawings-z Figure 1 is a back elevation of the lower portion of the magazine. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the right-hand side of Fig. '1 showing the transferrer and the slay and shuttle in section. Fig. '3 is a planof the magazine with the jaws closed, the escapement arm being omitted, and Figs. i and 5 are horizontal sections of the 'magazine taken across the lines B B and G C respectively of. Fig. 2.

In the following description the terms right-hand and left-hand refer to the right and left hands'of the operator standing in front of the loomI-and not to the right and left hand ends of'Fig. 1. Similarly forward and backward mean toward thefront and toward the back of the loom.

Referring to the drawings, 84 is the slay, 35 the shuttle with front and back sides 96 and 92, 37 is the cop spindle magazine, 38'

a cop spindle in the magazine, 39 the transferrer pivoted on its shaft 40.

The magazine 37 which is supported on the breast-beam by the bracket 52, consists of a rectangular tube with a slot on the right-hand face. The inside is so shaped that the heels of the cop spindles fit closely in it, while the skewers pass through the slot lVhen the heels of thecop spindles are of a different form to that shown, the shape of the inside of the magazine tube must be correspondingly modified. The

heels of the cop spindles rest on one another,

the lowest cop spindle being supported by. the upperedge of an escapement'53 which is pivoted to the magazine at 5%, An arm 55,- attached to the escapement 53, is piv-- oted to. a link 56 which is pivoted to a pin 57 attached to the transferrer.

This connection between the transferrer and the escapement 53 is such that, when the transferrer is operated to transfer a cop spindle into the shuttle, the upper pallet of the'escapement is moved away from under the lowest cop spindle heel, thus allowing the cop spindle to fall past this pallet; at the same time the lower pallet is brought into the path of the cop spindle heel and consequently prevents its further fall. On the return motion of the transferrer, the

escapement 53 is'brought back to its normal position, and the cop spindle held by the lower pallet is allowed to fall while the upper pallet retains the cop spindle next above it. Now it has been found that the heels of the cop spindles sometimes jam in the maga- I zine instead of falling down it when the cop spindle is transferred. A mechanism therefore ha s'beeniintroduced to insure every cop spindle falling down in the magazine so as to rest either on the cop spindle immediately below or on the retaining device. This mechanism is shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. The left-hand wall'of the magazine has a vertical groove in which a strip 74: is capable of sliding up anddown. A pin 75 fiXedto the strip 74 passes through a slot 7 6'in the wall of the magazine and is acted on by a spring 77 tending to pull the pin upward. 'This' pin '75 therefore serves to keep the strip 74 inplace and the spring 7 7 tends to keep'the latter at the higher limit of its travel. Preferably two such pins, slots and springs are employed, onenear the top'and thev other near the bottom of the magazine. 'Now the cop spindle tends to jam in the magazine because the free righthand end outside the magazine tends to fall more quickly than the heel which is retarded by the friction against the walls of the magazine. The cop spindle then becomes-slightly inclined with its tip pointing downward, so that the, heel of the cop spindle is held-inthe magazine by the lower point of its left-hand end touching the strip 7% and the upper portion of its right-hand endor of the right-hand ring touching the right-hand wall of the magazine or the sides of the grooves 121 and 122 in the front and back walls respectively. If, when the cop spindle-is jammed in this position by reason of the friction between the contacting points, the strip 7% be moved downward, the friction between the strip 74 and the heel of the cop spindle tends to draw the left-hand end of the heel downward and so level the cop spindle and release it from the position in which it was jammed so that it falls into its proper position. The requisite downward motion of the strip 74, is given to it every time that a cop spindle is transferred, by a rod 78 fixed to the transferrer, striking a pin 79 fixed to the strip and mov ing the pin and thestrip downward'against the action of the spring 77., which latter returns the strip to its normal position on the return stroke of the transferrer.

The device may be constructed in other ways, the essential feature of the devicebeing that the surface against which the lefthand end of the heel of the copvspindle rests, be moved downward, or that the surface against which the right-hand end rests be moved upward.

The main portion of the magazine so far described is applicable to many forms of weft-replenishing mechanism, the means of working the 'e'scapement varying according to the particular mechanism employed. Also, when the transferrer is such as to take the cop spindles from their lowest position in this main portion of the magazine, the escapement' mechanism can be dispensed with.

The lower portion of the magazine I in which a single cop spindle is retained in the path of the transferrer and which serves also to guid the cop spindle into the shuttle, will be describedas designed for use with weft-replenishing mechanism inwhich the cop spindle is introduced into the shuttle from above, passingunder or partially under the loom spindle, and, wherein, in order that the 100111 spindle may be able to advance sufliciently the portion of the magazine which guides the back side of the cop spindle, has to be pivoted so as to move forthis portion of the magazine, as far as is possible, the shape of a rectangular tube as in the upper portion of the magazine.

The front face of the magazine is continued downward nearly to thelevel of the shuttle, but its insideguidingsurfaces are curved as seen in Fig. 2 to guide the cop spindle into the shuttle. Also-a slot is cut in the center of the front face to admit the transferrer. The back face of the magazine is cut away a llttle below the e's'cap'ement, and

from here to the level of the shuttle, the cop spindle is guided by theflap with'j'aws 60 I the back edge of the front jaw, 58.

and 61, pivoted at 64, which is normally kept forward by the spring 65. At the level C C, where Fig. 5 is a section, it will be seen that the four walls of the magazine have been divided up into four jaws 5S and 59 at the front and 60 and 61 at the back, these jaws being a continuation of the four corners of the upper portion of the magazine and retaining the cop spindle parallel to the shuttle, in the same way as does the rectangular tube of the upper portion of the magazine, by the surfaces 67, 6S and 69 bearing on the sides of the cop spindle heel, and the surfaces 70, 71, 72 and 73 bearing on the two ends of the cop spindle heel. The bearing surface for the side of the cop spindle heel on the jaw 60 is not necessary because the front edge of the jaw bears against the skewer ofthe cop'spindle. The transferrer movesin'the space between the two front jaws'58 and 59-and in that between the two back jaws 60and 61.

Fig. l, which is asection along the line B B, shows thebearing surface of the jaws of the magazine at the point where the cop spindle is'about to enter the shuttle. The back. jaw 60- is soshapedas to pass to one side of the rib 66 of the front jaw 58 when a cop spindle is not passing between the jaws, so that its back edgeis no farther back than Similarly the back jaw 61 passes to one side of the front jaw 59. The retaining surfaces hereare the sameas at the level C C, except that the support for the end" of the cop spindle heel has been transferred from the surface 72 of the jaw 59 to th surface 73 of the projecting portion'of the aw 61; the back retaining surface 69 does not reach as far as the level B B because, in the construc tion shown, the I proximity of the I loom spindle 6 2 does not admit of it. At theback therefore the cop spindle is retained only by the jaw 60 acting on the skewer.

As shown in Fig. 2 the 100m spindle 62 is nearly touching the jaw 61, but as soon as the copspindle b'egins to leave the jaws of the magazine and enter the shuttle, the back jaws come forward, passing to the side ofthe front. jaws and so enable the loom spindle to come farther forward as the slay continues its forward course while the cop spindle is being pressed home into the shut tle.

In the case of ringwveft' cop spindles, whereit'is not possible to obtain a bearing surface at theright han'd end of the heel, the bearing surface afiorded by the righthand ring of the heel may be utilized. The

right-hand sides of the grooves 121 and 122 thenact as the right-hand wall of the mag'azine and in this case the same magazine will retainmulecop spindles, and ring weft cops on pirns. This form of magazine'has three great advantages. First, the tips of the 1. A cop spindle magazine for weft-1e.

plenishing mechanism for looms, having surfaces adapted to retain and guide the cop spindle by their heels substantially parallel to the axis of the shuttle, one of which engages the heel ends of the cop spindles and is movable in a direction to level and there by release any cop spindle which may be jammed in the magazine.

2. In weft-replenishing mechanism for looms, the combination with a magazine and surfaces therein adapted to retain and guide the cop spindles by their heels substantially parallel to the axis of the shuttle, one

of the said surfaces being one surface of a bar engaging the heel ends of the cop spindles and movable in a direction to level a cop spindle in the magazine, of means positively operating the bar to move it in one direction, and a spring to move it in the other direction.

3. In weft-replenishing mechanism for looms, the combination with a magazine and surfaces therein adapted to retain and guide the cop spindles by their heels substantially parallel to the axis of the shuttle, one of the said surfaces being one surface of a bar engaging the heel ends of the cop spindles and movable in a direction to level a cop spindle in the magazine, of a transferrer adapted to transfer cop spindles from the magazine to the shuttle, and means operatively connected with the transferrer to move the bar in one direction, and a spring to move it in the other direction.

4. In weft-replenishing .mechanism for looms, the combination of a cop spindle magazine having surfaces adapted to retain and guide the cop spindles by their heels substantially parallel to the axis of the shuttle, one of these surfaces being one surface of a bar engaging the heel ends of the cop spindles and movable in a direction to level and thereby release any cop spindle which may be jammed in the magazine, means operative to move the bar longitudinally, and pivotal means connecting the lower back portion of the magazine to the upper portion thereof, whereby it is capable of swinging rearward when giving passage to a cop spindle.

5. In weft-replenishing mechanism for looms, the combination of a cop spindle magazine havingsurfaces adapted to retain and guide the cop spindles by their heels substantially parallel to the axis of the shuttle, one of these surfaces being one surface of a bar engaging the heel ends of the cop spindles and movable in a direction to level a cop spindle in the magazine, a spring connected to the said bar to return it to normal postion, a transferrer adapted to transfer cop spindlesfrom the magazine to the shuttle'and means operatively connected with the transferrer to move the bar in opposition to the spring.

6. In weft replenishing mechanism for looms, the combination of a cop spindle magazine having surfaces adapted to retain and guide the cop spindles by their heels substantially parallel to the axis of the shuttle, one of these surfaces being one surface of a bar engaging the heel ends of the cop spindles and movable in a direction to level a cop spindle in the magazine, a spring connected to the said bar to return it to normal position, a transferrer adapted to transfer cop spindles from the magazine to the shuttle, means operatively connected with the transferrer to move the bar in opposition to the spring, pivotal means connecting the lower back portion of the magazine to the upper portion thereof whereby it is capable of swinging rearward when giving passage to a cop spindle, a movable escapement adapted to release the cop spindles, one at a time from the magazine so that they can come successively under the influence of the transferrer and means connecting the transferrer and the escapement so that one will operate the other.

7 In weft-replenishing mechanism for looms, the combination of a cop spindle magazine having its back lower portion which guides the cop spindle into the shuttle, pivoted relatively to the'fixed portion of the magazine, said fixed and pivoted portions serving to retain and guide the cop spindles before and during transfer by surfaces acting on the cylindrical surfaces and on the outer ends of the heels and on a re duced cylindrical surface adjoining the heels.

8. In weft-replenishing mechanism for looms, a cop spindle magazine having the lower end of its back wall pivoted and hav ing slots in the lower ends of its back and front walls to permit the passage of the transferrer through the walls, the said transferrer, the remaining portion of the lower ends of the magazine forming jaws shaped so as to retain and guide the cop spindle before and during transfer by surfaces acting on the cylindrical surfaces and on the outer ends of the heels and on a reduced cylindrical surface adjoining the heels.

9; In weft-replenishing mechanism for looms, a cop spindle magazine having the pivoted jaws passing to one side of the front aws.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands in the presence of two witnesses. 15

JOHN VHITTAKER. RICHARD BRADSHAXV. JOSEPH BRIGGS.

Witnesses:

GEORGEH. LEWIS, ROBERT VALENTINE JENNINGS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained forvfive cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D, C. 

